Chapter 1

Jake.

I pulled the jeep into its usual spot in the large makeshift garage and kept the engine running while I waited for the guards on duty to pull the exterior doors closed, keeping an eye on the rear-view mirror for any signs of trouble. I didn’t expect any, the last three hours of our drive back had been eerily quiet with no signs of movement, even the rats were absent. It was strange not to encounter something, but my brain was too tired to puzzle it out with any seriousness.

Three weeks we had been gone, and all we had to show for it were a few boxes of supplies, some new entries in the log and a very tired team. I scrubbed my hand over my eyes and forced them to open wide. I had never really mastered the art of sleeping on the move, so after a solid three-day drive back to the compound I was exhausted. We all were.

“Home sweet home. My beds never looked as good as it does now.” Came Porters quiet murmur from the back seat. It was amazing just how much a mission outside of the Compound could change the demeaner of the team.

The day we left three weeks ago they had been a rowdy bunch, even going so far as to sing along with one of the old CD’s Wheeler had slowly been collecting, Porter especially was naturally a loud and talkative person, it was surreal to hear him sound so subdued now. But experience taught me that two days back inside the safety of the compound and he would be back to his usual, annoyingly chipper self.

“Well, it should be a quick debrief then you can collapse in your pit for a few days. Give the rest of us a break from seeing your ugly mug.” Wheeler stated his tone as light-hearted as it ever was, and a smile pulled at my lips as his words registered. Porter was the pretty boy of the group, and he made sure we knew it. I turned to see Wheelers relaxed stance in the passenger seat beside me, he was the only guy I knew who didn’t seem to be overly fazed by the missions we went on, in fact nothing much seemed to faze him at all. But then when you have seen just about every horror possible, I suppose you become immune.

I switched off the engine and pulled out the keys, forcing my stiff body to move I wrenched open the heavy door and dropped down from the jeep, wincing at the jarring impact on my stiff legs. What I wouldn’t give for a long soak in a hot bath.

Mitchell was the guard on duty here today, and he stood waiting for us with a small smile. The garage was the weakest security point of the compound as such there were always at least two guards here, the other guy had been the one to pull the doors closed, a face I didn’t recognise but that wasn’t surprising, I wasn’t exactly the most social of people, I tended to avoid the large gatherings.

“Ya’ll good?” Mitchell questioned with a nod of greeting.

“Yeah, safe and sound, just tired.” I responded, handing over the keys to the jeep and side stepping as Wheeler made his way around the jeep.

“There are a few boxes in the back that need unloading, nothing perishable.” He informed the guard in his no nonsense tone.

“Thanks, I’ll take care of it.” Mitchell nodded, his southern accent strong in his words as he headed off to do his own job.

“Come on boys, let’s get this over with, I’m about to drop.” Rigs directed leading the way out of the garage with the rest of the team closely following, and into the long empty corridor that led towards the main block.

Not a word was spoken as we walked the familiar corridor, the sound of shoes echoing on the concrete the only thing breaking up the silence. I moved on auto pilot as I tried in vain to process the details of this mission.

We had been deployed to map out the outer areas of what used to be Washington state and look for any signs of the uninfected, the area was heavily infested with the infected though which made it difficult to do just about anything, we didn’t get to look around anywhere near as much as we would have liked but it was one mission ticked off the list I suppose. I scrubbed my hand over my face as the images assaulted me once again.

It was hard seeing what had become of the world, every time we went out, we came across something that gave us pause. This time it had been a park, one of those small ones in the middle of a suburban neighbourhood that we stopped in, to camp out for the night, surrounded by houses that had no doubt once been beautiful.

The houses themselves had obviously been abandoned for years, the windows were cracked or had panes of glass missing entirely, the occasional pane that was still intact was opaque with the years of grime that had built up. The brick walls were covered in old graffiti, written by the homeowners or squatters that had taken refuge over the years and pleaded for help, for salvation.

The once lush green lawns were now brown and withered with weeds a meter tall, and in amongst such obvious signs of abandonment was this little park. Untouched by time, a beacon of hope for what we were trying to get back to.

“Well, that was a bust.” Bubble grumbled slowing his pace to walk in line with me. “It won’t be long before they have us going door to door across the whole country. Or crossing the border into Mexico or Canada.” He stated echoing my own thoughts from earlier in the mission. “Oh ooh” he uttered in a universally accepted noise for trouble before leaving me on my own again. I hadn’t even said a word to him, what in the world was he on about?

I shook the frown off my face and carried walking, we had passed the central corridor and turned off towards A block, not long now until I could shut myself in my own little cell and sleep.

“Hey Jake! How did it go?” The voice called out from behind me and without laying eyes on her I knew exactly who was asking. Clara West. At least Bubbles ‘oh ooh’ now made sense.

I swallowed my groan, reminding myself yet again that she was just a kid. “Good.” I answered biting my tongue as she fell into step beside me.

She looked exactly the same as always, young, fresh faced, eager eyed. Dirty blonde hair piled high on her head and clothing that was probably as old as she was and at least three sizes too big. She was my puppy dog, or so the guys liked to call her. An ignorant, innocent teen who thought the fact that I was in the army was a good thing, that I killed the dead was a good thing. She didn't have the first idea of what it was like out there, hell she likely didn’t have any memories of ever being outside of the compound.

The world had changed nine years ago when a virus was let loose on humanity. It had started out like any other, people got sick, headaches to rival any migraine, loss of appetite and vomiting, it was just a nasty sickness bug, or so we all thought. Then it got a little worse, the people who were infected lost some of their motor skills and strength, they couldn’t think clearly, I remember reading an interview with an infected who described it as ‘like walking through a fog, everything is blurry’.

Over the space of a year the virus mutated, scientists and doctors were baffled by its resilience to just about anything they tried and twelve months in it was no longer just a sickness bug. It was killing people.

At the time it had been horrifying, each day we checked the news to see just how many people across the world had died due to a virus we couldn’t do anything about. The country went on lockdown, hell the whole world went on lockdown. No one left their houses, businesses closed, people struggled to buy food as the supermarkets sold out of everything, it was chaos. Then the reports got strange.

It was a Wednesday morning when it happened, every news outlet had the same story with different variations of a title, but all with the same meaning. ‘It’s a miracle.’ His name had been William Preece. A small-town mechanic, I can’t remember where from specifically, some town I had never heard of. The news report declared that the infected man had somehow survived the virus, he had dies for a short time before regaining a heartbeat and although his motor functions had not fully returned yet the man tested negative for the virus.

The good news didn’t last long though, before the day was over those reports turned sinister, and the wife of the mechanic reported that ‘he was not her husband’. More testing was completed and by the end of the day the doctors were singing a different tune. It wasn’t a miracle, it was the thing of nightmares. The media started referring to him as the zombie, but he wasn’t the only one, he was just the first that they knew about.

Within a week, doctors had more information, and the news became terrifying.

The virus changed those it infected, turning humans into monsters and bringing the dead back to life. It was simple science really, the virus changed our DNA and with it eradicated all that was good about the human race, love compassion kindness empathy, all it left behind were our base instincts, the need to feed and the need to spread the infection but it didn't always eradicate the ability to think in those it infected, there were some smart ass bad guys out there with no base emotions to hold them back.

As for the re-animation of the dead, well that was a little harder to explain but essentially it turned the dead into zombies, the infected who died would rise again although there was nothing scientific to indicate they were actually alive except that they could walk and talk, somewhat.

The virus had spread quickly across the world, mostly due to the fact that the only way to truly differentiate between the infected and the clean were their eyes. The infected all had a wicked case of blood eye.

Now, nine years later we were doing all we could just to survive. Somewhere along the line the compound had been set up, an old prison that was almost impenetrable and now the only known safe zone in what used to be the united states.

“Well I'm glad you all made it back okay.” Her voice was soft, sweet and I bit my tongue again.

“Yeah.” I nodded not giving her more. Hell she was just a kid with a crush, I kind of felt sorry for her, it wasn't as though there were a lot of prospects left in the world but I wouldn't encourage her crush, not when I knew nothing would ever come of it. She had to be at least ten years younger than me and she had no idea how the world worked, where as I was confronted with our reality way too often.

“Are you heading back out?” She asked not giving up on the prospect of a conversation and I grumbled wishing she would go away.

“Yeah.” I muttered, not for the first time feeling glad of the fact that I wouldn't have to see her for a while. Our team had been placed on duty searching for cleans and was set to head out again in a couple of days, only this time I wouldn't be back for a good while. The thought was as unsettling as it was welcome. I had joined the army eight years ago at the age of nineteen. I hadn't really known what to expect, I just knew that I had no family, no real friends and I had to do something. I was taken in by the compound and felt a bit of a debt to the leaders, they kept me alive, fed me, clothed me and I had done nothing in return, I had nothing to offer them. I wasn't smart, I wasn't specialised in any field. So I did the only thing I could do and signed up for the army.

“Well good luck.” She smiled and I forced a smile in return then watched as she walked away, back into the main common room of the compound while I followed behind my team towards the armoury.

“That your little stalker? She's kind of cute.” Wheeler smirked falling back to walk besides me.

“By all means knock yourself out.” I stated hoping that if someone, anyone showed her a little attention then she would leave me be, I couldn't keep fending her off, one of these days I would crack and do something stupid, something she would most likely end up regretting.

“Oh come on, smile a little.” He laughed before joining up with the others and I once again found myself thankful that we wouldn’t be at the compound for long before we would be sent out again, hopefully for a good few weeks.